The House of Pendragon
by sesskagluver09
Summary: A child bourn of House Pendragon and Ambrosius who will restore balance to the world. With powers the old one knows not, and the chosen one needs, the balance will be restored, lest the world be blinded in the light.
1. A Child is Born

Okay, so I want to start off by saying that I actually have a thought out plot for this fic, the other ones, not so much, which is probably why they all died the horrible writers block death that they did, or they were eaten by a rainbow colored ferret; not too sure right now. Anyway I hope that you all like this fic, and if not, well then you don't matter to me.

Also, if you're not an expert in Arthurian legend, King Arthur's surname was Pendragon, and Merlins last name was Ambrosius

ON WITH THE FICCAGE!!!

Prologue

_A child bourn of House Pendragon and Ambrosius who will restore the Balance to the world. With powers the old one knows not, and the chosen one needs, the Balance will be restored, lest the world be blinded in the light._ Screams echoed around the ancient wood as the cloaked figures gathered around the pregnant witch, the hooded figures looked at the woman and her consort.

They made quite a pair those two, him with his muscular body and deep blue eyes, that made you feel as if you were lost in the ocean when looking into them, and her, with eyes so white, that unless you were close enough to kiss her, it looked as though she had merely black dots, but to those who could get close enough, they saw her eyes were the color of snowfall, and endless expanse of pure snow hid in her eyes.

The woman screamed as the contraction wracked her body for what seemed like an eternity, the midwife quietly encouraging the mother to push, the crowd watching with anticipation, as well as fear, for never before had these Houses produced an offspring, the child would be powerful, powerful enough perhaps to bring balance to a world that was becoming blind in the light, scared of the one eternal thing.

"First there was Darkness, then there was Light, Darkness eternal, Light fleeting, in Darkness conceived, to Darkness returned, such is the way of all things. Let the Balance be restored, let Light and Dark exist harmoniously once more; the ancient sect chanted over and over again, until, with a last great push, the child was born. This is the child who would lead them out of the Light and into the Dark, this is the child who would brink order to the Balance."

The child was cleaned, and handled with great care, the mother, exhausted looked at her husband and wept. The midwife gave the baby girl to the husband, who after looking at his wife who gave him a small nod, took the baby and held it up for all to see. "I hereby declare this child to be named Christabelle Ambrosius Pendragon," the crowd bowed their heads and gave thanks for the gift of a new child in the community; the one who would restore balance to the world had been born.


	2. Running Away

AN: the prologue was so short, because well quite frankly, that's were I ran out of ideas for it, but it's a prologue, its not supposed to be all that long, so there.

ON WITH THE FICCAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~Nine Years Later~

"FREAK," the word resounded throughout the orphanage like an alarm bell. "GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT," the small girl with eyes like the colour of ice jumped out of her small bed, which was little more than a moldy mattress and a few threadbare blankets, and got dressed in a hurry. She ran down the stairs in an almost crazed manner, trying to get there as fast and quiet as possible, not wanting to anger the skinny matron. She had done this enough times to know that when the Matron was happy, then Chritabelle wasn't happy, and when the Matron was not happy, then Christabelle was even more unhappy, not that Christabelle was ever happy. No the daily beatings and constant name calling were enough to see that this child would never know true happiness while she was there, not that she would ever leave, because where would she go? She walked in o the kitchen looking at the floor in a subservient manner as she was not good enough to look at the older woman.

"Yes Matron?" Christabelle said quietly, but load enough to be heard over the other children arguing and squabbling about this or that, as children are want to do, at least as long as those children aren't Christabelle that is.

"What the hell do you have to say for yourself about this?" the Matron screamed in her face, gesticulating wildly at the wall where there was a large brown smudge on the wall, and a broken vase on the floor beneath it. "Do you have _any_ idea how much that vase cost?" the matron shouted as she pick up the malnourished child and slammed her into the wall. Christabelle was close enough to the matron to smell the alcohol on her breath, which normally lead to Christabelle being beaten, and sometimes worse. Christabelle had never been comfortable around the matron; she had described the matron as feeling darker than was normal, she had felt her own light fleeing from her as the abuses continued over the last several years, and at first she fought for the light to stay, but she found it too hard to cope with the abuses with an innocent soul, and so she cast away the light almost completely, she sought solace in the darkness, and found that there, and only there was she safe, as the matron refused to enter to enter the darkness, Christabelle thought this was because the matron was scared of her own imbalance, but the moment something was broken, the other children would blame it on Christabelle, after all, who cares about a freak? "Do you?" the matron shouted as she threw the small girl into the mass of earth and broken pottery.

"No Matron, how much did the vase cost?" the small girl said weakly, trying not to move from her spot along the wall. Whatever it cost, she knew that she wouldn't be eating until the vase was more then paid for.

"Enough to feed you for months," the matron said coldly. _Months? The bitch plans to starve me for_ months? The girl thought to herself, she knew the matron could be more than a little bit on the irrational side at times but this? This was pushing it, even for her. The skinny woman towered over the small child, smiled wickedly, then said coldly, "And you know how you pay for the things that you break right?" the small girl nodded meekly. "Maybe we can finally kill you this time!" the woman laughed evilly, as she struck Christabelle across the face, knocking her back against the wall. "But first… Maybe we should let the boys have you first…" The evil woman trailed off as Christabelles' eyes widened in fear as the matron grabbed her by her dirty blonde hair, and pulled her upstairs to the boys' dorm.

The matron threw her into the well light room, the boys stopped what they were doing, and looked at the small, frail girl who took refuge in the dark, they looked at her not as a girl, but as a freak, a tool to be used, then thrown aside, they looked at her with an unholy hunger, then the oldest of them walked over to her. He towered over her, he had messy black hair, and the most astonishing blue eyes, he looked at her, almost lovingly, then he proceeded to undress her, he then undid his pants, and entered her forcibly, painfully, but she did not cry out, for she knew that would only make him angrier, and then it would hurt more. When he had finished, she was passed around, form oldest to youngest, when they had all had a turn, she was unceremoniously thrown out of the room.

She crawled back to her spot under the stairs and wept herself to sleep.

HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP

When Christabelle awoke the next morning she knew what she had to do, it was time for her to leave, for better or for worse; she was leaving the orphanage forever. It did not take her long to pack all of her things, as she did not have that much in the way of anything really. Just a few ratty old clothes and a few pounds that she had stolen off of the matron as well as a few perspective parents, not that she was caught often, no, she was good at what she did, the punishments she received when she was caught had seen to that. She decided to wait until nighttime to leave; she figured that she could suffer through one more day there, if she knew that she would be leaving soon.

Midnight saw Christabelle walking silent as a ghost through the kitchen, and towards the back door, every silent step brought her closer and closer to her freedom, she stood absolutely still as she heard the matron coming downstairs, reacting before she realized it she dove under the table at just as the matron walked into the kitchen. She knelt there, silent, for what seemed an eternity as she watched the matron consume more in ten minutes than she was allowed to eat in a week, and it made her sick, how someone could be so callused to other peoples feelings. She understood the need to hurt someone else, she understood all that went into a twisted soul, and, she was repulsed by it, as well as the converse, the overwhelming idiocy that the naïve, and innocent have, she had understood all along the need for balance in all things, and when she observed things that happened in nature, she noticed that it was almost perfectly balanced.

When the matron had finished her feast, and left the room, the small stealthy girl continued her sojourn towards freedom, away from the abuses that she suffered almost daily. She reached the threshold of the door, and shakily reached a pale hand to the lock, and slowly, carefully undid the lock, she then, trembling turned the door-knob again, slowly and carefully. She stood there in shock, part of her was screaming at her to open the door and never turn back, but the other was telling her to go back to bed like a good little freak… she stopped herself at the word freak. _I'm not a freak, I don't care what she tells me, I am not a freak, she is,_ and with that last thought, the door swung inwards, almost as if it was by magic, needing no further encouragement she ran out the door as quietly as possible, not even caring to shut it, she ran as fast as she could down the street. She was free.

Sorry for the wait and the short chappie, but I have the overwhelming burden of a social life, and so I found myself away from my computer for several days this week, and I also decided to rewatch all seven seasons of buffy, which im on the first disk of season two, if anyone cares, the creepy one with the frankenstien theme, if there are any Buffy fans, then they know which one im talking about, so good for you, everyone else, hulu it. Second episode. Anyway, I have a feeling that I upset some of you, (and myself) with the rape scene, it was a nessasary evil, and I appolgize to any of my readers whom I may have offended. So R&R yeah?+


	3. A Day in the Woods

Thank you glennscm, Sessho-Monster, and spacecatdet for reviewing I really appreciate it and am giving you all cookies ^^

ON WITH THE FIICAGE

_I'm free, I'm free… _the words echoed in her head with each stride, she had no pattern, no set goal in her mind, only away from that place. The small girl kept running until her legs fell from underneath her from exhaustion, then with tears running down her face, she cried. Not out of sorrow, but of joy, she no longer had to deal with the daily beatings, and other such abuses that she had endured over the past nine years of her life, _free… I'm free…_the thought kept echoing around in her head until she fell asleep. And for the first time in years, she was not plagued by nightmares.

It was dawn when she woke up, she had never been able to sleep with light around her. She looked around her, most of the windows were boarded up, there was graffiti everywhere, and the entire street smelled strongly of stale urine, not at all a place that she wanted to be, and with that finale decree she stood up, dusted herself off, and started walking down the empty street. She had walked about two or three blocks before she got the strange feeling that she was being followed by someone, only any time she turned around to see if any one were following her, she saw no one was actually following her. She shrugged it off as instinct, as she was never really alone in the house.

Once she was outside of the town, she decided that it would be best to leave the road, as any search parties, in the unlikely event that there were any, would probably follow the roads, not thinking that a nine year old girl would brave the wilderness on her own at sunset she decided to stop along a stream, in the middle of a large forest that she had entered a few hours after midday. Christabelle thought that maybe she should try her hand at fishing, if she was truly going to be free, then there was no reason why she shouldn't be self sufficient. _It's not like I'm going to go back to the cities. No, I will stay here and do whatever I want, whenever I want, and I'll never be yelled at for anything, never be called a freak, never be… never have_ that_ done to me ever again._ She thought as she foraged for a stick to use as a fishing pole. _I'm also going to need fire, and shelter, but that can wait until tomorrow. _

She awoke to the sound of bird song, and for the first time in her short life, she was truly happy.

Sorry for the delay, but, sadly my desktop blew up, and so I had to wait for my laptop to arrive to start writing anything, that is also why this chapter is a little bit short… also, I would very much like for people to review, as that gives me an idea of what you like and don't like, feel free to go all grammar Nazi on me, I can take it…and hey, I'll even change it, so yes, reviewing is a good thing, so you should do it.

that's what she said…


	4. Intruder in the Wood

Thanks to glennscm the chapters will be longer than they were before, and if anyone else has anything that they have a problem with, feel free to tell me, as depending upon what it is, I will change it. So that means you should review^^; please?

After a few moons, she noticed that the days were getting shorter and colder, she had never been a summer person however, and this still annoyed her, as winter meant that she would have to start hunting more big game for the pelts, and food reserves, she shrugged the thoughts off as she walked to the entrance of her cave, and with a stifled yawn, she stretched. These past few months had been good to her, she was no longer under-weight, but nor was she round with fat.

She had learned much about the natural world in these last few months, through mere observation, she had learned how to make a warm bed out of sticks, twigs and mud. She had also learned how to move silently through the forest, never leaving a trail behind her, through trial and error she had determined which plants were safe to eat, and which were not, which plants were antiseptics, and which were poisons to use on her arrows, which woods were best suited for the making of spears, bows and arrows.

She had learned how to focus what she could only describe as energy, pure, raw energy that came from within herself, to do simple things, like levitate small pebbles, or if she concentrated hard enough, she could pinch blood vessels within her pray to kill it. However, she did this only when her other methods of hunting had failed and she was on the verge of starving, and it gave her a migraine.

Yes, it was true that she had learned much over the past several moons, but she still felt incomplete, like there was something missing that not even her small companions could fill, true, they made the feeling less intense, but she was lacking something vital within herself. She walked over to the stream, glistening like rubies in the early morning sun, stripped off her leather clothing sewn from many different animal hides, and waded into the brisk stream, she washed away the filth from her hair, and then started on the rest of her body, starting from the top down.

A small red fox approached the stream, and after sniffing the air, sat down on the streambed, and started to lick itself clean. "Guess I'm no the only one who decided that it was time for a bath you smelly fox," Christabelle said laughing to her self. The fox looked up from its right foreleg and looked at the small girl who had saved him from a hunters trap nearly six moons ago, as if to say, _Me, smelly? Why don't you speak for yourself foolish girl._

"Come on Tristan, you know I was only teasing," she said in rebuttal as she splashed the fox, who gave her a death stare, laughing she began to swim lazily in the small stream. The early morning sun reflecting off the water like living flame, the bird song filling the air like a choir of angels, a large black bird landed beside the fox, and started preening itself. "Hey Shadow, have a good hunt?" Christabelle said to the raven in a curious tone, as she waded back onto the shore, and sat beside her two companions.

The raven shook its head and said, in a hoarse rough voice, "No, human." the raven then continued to preen itself nonchalantly. Christabelle sat up abruptly, panicking, she had thought that all of the local hunters knew to stay out of her woods, this was her home, her place, and no hunter was going to cheat and use guns to hunt in _her woods._

"_Where was the hunter shadow?" Christabelle said as she stood up and ran the quarter mile back to her cave, she was going hunting, and she needed her supplies, there was a reason that no one came here anymore, for any hunters, or backpackers who came through this area, would find their gear destroyed in the morning, along with other annoying, but mostly harmless pranks meant to drive them away. She passed through the trees with a practiced ease._

"_Not hunter, girl like you," the raven said as she darted in and out of the trees, "innocent, no harm," the large black bird said once they reached the cave. "Watch, no trap. Follow, no noise. Listen, like pretty voice." Christabelle stopped putting things into the rabbit skin pouch that she carried with her always- it was her first kill. True, it had been expanded over the months, but the original pelt was where they all came together, it was at the center, as it was the center of her new life, this peaceful life- as she heard what Shadow was saying, as the bird had never told her to do anything that was unwise in the end, it may have seemed that way at first, but when all of the information came together, the bird was normally right._

"_Fine I'll follow her, and see what she's all about before sending her away, happy?" Christabelle whined to the bird, the fox walked into the cave, and rubbed against her leg. "Hey Tris, we're going on an adventure, want to come?" the fox looked up at her, then, after walking behind her, the small fox nudged the back of her leg. Christabelle let out a small laugh, "Alright you two, alright we're leaving were leaving," she said then paused at the mouth of the dim cave. "Lets go tracking…" said as she stepped out of her cave. She needed to see who was making such a fuss in her woods, and deal with them._

_So you got two updates in just as many days, review, please? I need to know what you all think, so that I can make this story better, also I'm thinking that she could go into any house but Hufflepuff, altho, probably more Slytherin than Gryffindor, but more Ravenclaw than Gryffindor. So R&R and merry may we meet again ^^._


	5. The Hunt

Thanks go out to glennscm and David Fishwick for reviewing the last chapter, your reviews made my day, and I hope that more people will review as it often helps me get tin the mood for writing.

It turned out that the person was indeed a girl like her, she tread through the woods as if this was _her_ home, and not some strange forest, but she had a distant look about her, surprised, the girl cried out, "Mother, why isn't the Crumple Horned Snorcack here yet?" the girl said as she touched the bark of a nearby tree reverently, lovingly. "The scary man at the store said that if we came here, that something would come and steal all of our food, and stuff." the girl said dreamily.

"Well Luna, maybe we have to wait until nighttime for it to come," a woman who was a few dozen feet away from the girl said. The girl and the woman each had long, blonde hair, and ethereal silver eyes, that seemed to see what was hidden, as well as what was right in front of them.

"You think so mummy?" the small girl… Luna said looking at the woman with wonder, the woman laughed at her daughter who looked so much like Christabelle that it was scary, though, Christabelle had a sharper look to her eyes, like they had seen so much more in her short life, then most see in their entire lives. Christabelle had the look of a hunter, and Luna, the look of prey.

"I would be surprised if it came out during the day, as most pests such as this tend to come out at night," the woman said picking up her daughter, and spinning her in the air. The midday sun shone around them in the clearing, the wind playing with their hair, their combined laughter was the most beautiful thing that Christabelle had ever heard. It was then that she decided that she needed to leave… immediately, she crept away silently, always watching the pair, humans were no good, they only brought pain, and misery, she had left that world for good, but she missed it, it was like she had never lived before she saw the happy pair in the clearing.

"You see, you hear. You confused." the raven stated once they were a safe distance away. "need flock, know of place, you not be alone there, you be free, and have flock, I came from there, you have own nest, chick need flock," the bird said when Christabelle broke down and cried for the first time in years.

"Fine you stupid bird, we'll leave soon…but first we need to gather our belongings, and then we will leave our nest," she said after a few hours of sobbing, the sun was just starting to go down, "we should also wreck their camp, the girl would like it I think…" she said as she started to space off.

"Agree," Shadow said as she preened herself; "Smart girl, open mind, good friend, not now, later," the raven said in as close to a dreamy tone as is possible for a raven, which is to say, a slightly higher croak.

Tristan padded over to her quietly, looked at her and not said, but more thought out loud, Christabelle couldn't describe it any other way,_ "They're almost asleep, if you feel like messing with them, now would be a good time to act. If not, then I suggest we return home and pack, we do have a long road ahead of us," _he paused for a second to gnaw at a flea, then continued on to say, _"Especially if we're letting bird brain here lead us there, all that garbage about crows flying the straightest path, that bits true, but they don't often take into account us what can't fly when they make their l maps and what not," _he said sarcastically.

"Raven, no crow. Know many ways by land, old master made learn. Red rat wrong-" Shadow croaked out as Tristan interrupted her.

"_Now listen here pigeon brain, I am much bigger, and deadlier then the common variety garden rat, which as we both know is quiet deli-"_ the small fox said annoyed before getting cut off by Christabelle.

"Break it up you two, we don't have time to fight, we need to mess with their things now if we want to make it backto the cave before morning," she said, ever the peace keeper between the two of them, sometimes they annoyed her so, but they had both proved helpful over these last few moons, and she hated it when they inevitably fought, and so she did what she could, and laughed more than a bit as the raven spoke in broken English, and the fox sounded like a right butt-head at times.

They approached the camp in silence, and waited until the strange pair fell asleep to start working on the camp, first up was any food that they had left outside, that, they stole, as it was harder to find food in the colder months, or so said both bird and fox. So they stole whatever would be of use to them, and destroyed what was not, then, almost as silently as they came, they left, making their way back to their cave, their home, that place where they could not be touched, their shelter from their storm, the place that brought them all together, and they were leaving it. The idea seemed ridiculous in her head, but, practically, it made sense, she needed to be around other humans, she needed a flock of her own, and she was going to find it.

"So, Shadow, where are we going?" Christabelle asked after they had gotten settled in, and ready to sleep, her head on a pile of rabbit furs that were useful for nothing else but to serve as her pillow, and a few sewn together deer hides served as her bed.

The large bird lifted her head out from under her wing, "Die-gone Ally," the bird said reverently.

"_Sounds like a lovely place, now, can you lot be quiet, I am trying to sleep here," the grouchy fox said lifting its head up from its tail._

"_Die-gone Alley, our new home…" she trailed off as sleep overtook her._


	6. A Door is Opened

**Thank you glennscm for reviewing once more, **

**For the next several days they traveled, they crossed empty roads and small streams, they flitted through neighborhoods like specters in a graveyard, they flew through the city with an amazing speed, unnoticed by all. They had stolen food when they had run out, and stopped only for sleep. They arrived in London on the fifth day of their journey, not that they knew the city was called London, as Christabelle was never taught to read at the orphanage, and with her companions being a fox and a talking raven* they couldn't read any of the road signs. **

**The trio walked the streets of the large city with unease, they were used to the peace of the forest, a slow serenity, a place where while things could change in less then an instant, the changes happened once, and were over, but here, in this place of steel, and stone, and concrete, none of them felt safe, there were to many people, too much going on, Christabelles' thoughts were buzzing around in her head like a jar of shaken up fireflies. But she knew that as long as she followed Shadow, she would eventually find their destination, their goal, a flock for her to join, someday, she knew that she would walk these streets without fear, as an insider, as one of them, but she knew that it was not that day. **

**After walking the streets for hours, they arrived at a small shop, with a battered old sign over the door that had two words on it, and a picture of a big black pot that had a crack in the side that was oozing some liquid that formed the second word, a plume of smoke above the pot formed the first word. Shadow was perched on the sign, and then in her eerie croak of a voice, the large raven spoke, "Here, things change, in building, meet flock, not pack, make pack bond later. Now, need learn, need grow," Christabelle looked up at the bird and gave a small nod, and held out her gloved wrist, the bird, seeing this, flew to her, and perched on her shoulder, and began preening herself. **

"_**Well, what are we waiting for? A formal invitation?" the fourteen-and-a-half inch tall fox said, his vertical pupils merely black slivers set on a deep yellow background. **_

_**While she was standing there the door swung open and nearly hit her in the face, a tall white-haired man with a beard that nearly reached his belt buckle, opened the door, and looking down at the small blonde girl, beautiful purplish-blue black raven on her shoulder, and rust colored fox, with an amused expression plain on his face as he said to the small girl directly, "Well now, what do we have hear? A child who looks to be in need of a warm bath, an even warmer meal and new clothes?" the man said bending down to look her in the eyes, and was astonished to see penetrating ice blue grey eyes looking at her astonished, and then after pausing for a second or two in which she regarded him with a cold look. **_

"_**I do not believe that Tom would have a problem with you bringing your pets inside," the old man was looking at her with eyes that twinkled like the finest quality sapphire, his robes a rich deep blue-purple that she had never seen before, and she felt rather than saw a bright light that was tainted by an overshadowing darkness, as if everything that he did to build that light was to try and block out the darkness that he had caused through the years. She knew that she could not trust him, she knew that somehow, though she could not explain it, she just knew that this man was not to be trusted. **_

"_**They're not," Christabelle said looking challengingly at the strange old man who was making her feel so weird inside. **_

"_**I'm sorry? What was that I do believe that I'm going deaf in my old age," the man said with a jovial laugh. The people milling around them regarding them strangely as they went about their business.**_

"_**I said that their not pets, I don't own them. If anything sir, they own me," she said looking into his twinkling blue eyes. "And how do you do that?" she said looking at him suspiciously, Shadow looked at her and shook her head.**_

"_**Why whatever do you mean my dear child?" The old man with said warmly, his eyes twinkling with curiosity, and a bit of panic.**_

"_**Make your eyes twinkle like that mister…" Christabelle said matter-of-factly, as she looked at the old man whose expression had gone from slightly panicked to highly amused in an instant, and in that instant, she knew that e wasn't telling her everything, and this didn't settle well with her, and so she decided that she would try and find out what made the kind-looking old man did to make his eyes twinkle like that. **_

_**The old man gave a small laugh, and said, "I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, and my dear child I do believe that these things are better discussed inside," he said looking at the crowded street around them. And so it was with a sigh that Christabelle, Tristan and Shadow took their first steps into a whole new world. (Queue cheesy Aladdin song here.)**_

_***Ravens are actually capable of imitating human speech, so I figured that it wouldn't be to far of a stretch to assume that given the right combination of spells and what not, Shadow would be capable of human speech, however poorly. Also, while both Shadow and Tristan are her familiars, which I will go into more details about later on in the story, Tris is not naturally capable of human speech, and so therefore the involved magic's formed a mental pathway so that master and familiar would have a way of communication. I thought that I should clear that up, also the Mary sue warning at the beginning of the story has been taken down, as she will grow into all of her powers, except for like open or two, but those are more just unconscious things like the aura detection thing, but she doesn't realize that not everyone can do that. And animals can understand each other, which is why Moony didn't kill the Marauders during the full moon. See, I can think about things like this… so she wont be to overpowered. Also I have been visiting my mother who has no internet, or car to go somewhere that has internet, which is why the long wait. I will also be leaving Sunday for basic training with the Marine Corps, so best case senerio, I wont be able to udate in 13.5 weeks. R&R**_


	7. An Afternoon at a Pub

**The smoke of the pub wafted around them as they advanced slowly through the almost empty pub as the occasional person would walk through the large fireplaces that were spaced evenly along the wall, and that glowed with a strange green flame, and oddly clothed people, wearing cloaks, and long flowing robes walk through them. **

**And it was then that she noticed the changes that she had gone through over the past several moons, gone was the timid girl who cowered in fear when the matron had had to much to drink and decided to torture her, gone was the powerless little girl who shut down when she was in peril, and in her place stood a fierce huntress, powerful, wild, untamable, she was now a force of nature, something that could not be stopped ever again, she felt the change, though, when she looked back on it in the future, she could see that the changes had manifested long before then, but now, in the face of all this change, she felt the strength, and the power surge through her like a sudden adrenalin rush. She was broken out of her revere by Albus's hand on her shoulder, and she felt unsure of her self once more.**

"**My dear, why don't you go pick out a table for us to sit at while I get us something to eat," the old man said as he steered her through the crowded pub. A fuzzy body rubbed up against her leg to reassure her, and suddenly she felt the confidence that had filled her earlier fill her once more, the old mans hand felt warm through the thin layer of furs that made up her clothing.**

**Christabelle found a corner table for them to sit at, she now had the entire pub within her gaze, and she watched detachedly, and tried to piece these people together, figure out weather or not to trust the kind old man, or to flee from him and never look back. The old man said that he was a professor, but of what she wondered, looking on she was amazed that people were waving sticks around and saying funny words that she could not discern over the low mumble of conversation that filled the small pub, and saw that objects rose in conjunction with one of the stick holders arm movements, and let out a small gasp.**

**She had been able to do the same thing, only she had no stick, or funny words to help her, and the man seemed to be doing it without a second thought, and when she had done the same thing on a much smaller scale, for this man was making the entire table float smoothly through the air, and it took almost all of her concentration to make a small rock to float shakily through the air. She put the pieces together at the time that Dumbledore had walked back to the table, and she whispered softly, reverently as if trying to see how the word sounded, and spoke the words, "**_**It's magic, it must be…"**_** just as the old man was sitting down in the seat a crossed from her. **

"**So my dear, you know my name, but what is yours?" Albus said as he pushed a bowl of stew towards her, and put a piece off bread on the table motioning from Shadow to the bread in offering, and placed a bowl of fat on the floor for the rust colored fox. "And of course, you must introduce me to your friends," the old man said as he carefully cut into his slab of beef with an ornate knife that he produced from his ornate robes.**

"**I'm Christabelle sir, and this is Shadow, and this is Tristan," she said motioning to each in turn who looked at her then resumed eating with a bored expression obvious on their faces. Why was this old man being so nice? What was it that he wanted from her, for in her experience, only those who wanted something badly were ever this nice, so what was it that motivated this strange old man with twinkling eyes? **

"**Christabelle, what a beautiful name, is your surname as elegant, or is that where you ran out of luck?" the old man said jovially, but still with a hint of curiosity in his voice, it was as if he was actually interested, might as well entertain him, and if he poses a threat, she still had her blades on her, though if he had one of those sticks it might be harder to escape, for she didn't know the extent to which magic could be used… yet, although, given enough time she would learn all there was to know, and she would never have that, her body shuddered involuntarily as she thought of what the boys of the orphanage had done to her for no other reason then they could.**

**But when she spoke, it was clear and without fear, "Very well sir, my full name is Christabelle Artimis Ambrosius Pendragon… Are you alright sir?" she asked as the old mans eyes widened in shock as he heard her full name, obviously he was not expecting that name, why? What was it about her name that had caused him to look like that, he was able to compose himself after a few seconds. **

**And then he said, "Are you certain that is your given name child? Not just something that you made up because it sounded nice?" he kept his voice and face calm, but she could sense the unease radiating from him like a scared rabbit.**

"**All but the middle name sir, and that is because Artimus was the Goddess of the Hunt, and so I found it fitting, what with me living in the woods and hunting for my food and all, but other than that, yes I'm certain that the rest is my name, the Matron wouldn't have taught me how to spell it and say it right, because she doesn't care about anyone but herself, and so why would she come up with such a nice sounding name if she would just call me freak, and worthless?" Christabelle rambled, suddenly panicked, for when ever the Matron had used that tone with her voice a beating was sure to follow.**

"**Hmm… most curious, here is your room key, you will be staying here until I can find more… suitable arrangements for you. Go bathe, you will find clothes on your bed when you exit the shower, and then meet me down here, we have a few things to do before the day is over my dear," the old man said with that same odd twinkle in his eyes.**

**-~-~-~-~-~-~--~-~-~-~-~-~-~-**

**When she prepared to leave the tub full of warm bath water, a new wave of dread hit her, the old man had said that their would be clean clothes waiting for her, and that they had a few things to do before the day was over… what did he mean by that? Obviously he expected her to play rag doll for him, but neither Tristan or Shadow would allow that to happen, but what if he stopped them, what if he killed them? If that was the case then she would do whatever damage that she could before he killed her for refusing to cooperate, and so it was with these grim thoughts that she asked Tristan to go see if the old man was out in the room, and grudgingly the small fox stood up from his position on the floor and walked over to the small wooden door. **

**He pawed it open slightly, and disappeared for a few anxious seconds, then reappeared shaking his head, and said, **_**"The room is empty, well except for the red and gold furs on the bed… but I don't believe that those pose the threat that you were fearing, so relax,"**_** he paused for a moment as if to think about if he should say something, he walked over to where he was seated earlier, circled the spot once, twice, and finally a third time before laying down and curling in on himself, putting his head on his paws, then covered his face with his tail. **_**"Oh, and by the way, if you want me to scent the old man, I'd be more then happy to oblige,"**_** he said after he was comfortable on the hard wood floors. **

"**It's okay buddy, I really don't think that's the way to keep him happy, and as long as he's happy, we're safe," Christabelle said as she stood up from the porcelain bathtub sloshing water everywhere, then after drying herself off with a towel that was already in the small bathroom, she gathered her courage, wrapped the towel around herself and walked into the bedroom with an anxious step, the step of prey, how often had she been the cause if this walk in the numerous hunters who frequented the woods that had served as her first and so far only home, and now, she was the one walking around expecting an attack around every corner, she shook her head and laughed at herself for being so skittish. **

**She dressed herself slowly, tying to get used to the feel of the new fabric against her skin, the strange furs that Tristan had described earlier were in fact burgundy robes with an elegant gold trim along the hems that spoke of great wealth, and she suddenly wondered why she merited such expensive clothing, and again her thoughts started going down the familiar dark path until she shook it off. She looked around the small room and spotted a hair brush on the small plain armoire, and walked past it, not even looking at herself, she had not looked in a mirror in a long time, as the last time the matron had caught her looking, she had slammed her face into the reflective surface, screaming that vanity was unbecoming, and that freaks didn't deserve to appreciate themselves, and so she never did, but it was weird, being away from the matron for so long, not interacting with people for such an extended time, all of her old rules seemed silly, like they were no longer needed to keep her safe anymore. So she looked at her self in the mirror and gasped sharply. There was a significant change in her appearance from when she had last gotten a decent look in anything reflective, gone was the uncertainness of a scared little girl in her face, gone was the drowned look that the oversized clothing had given her, her eyes were no longer sunken in their sockets, her cheeks no longer stood out so harshly from her skin, her small petite form had transformed into a that of a lithe huntress who looked at the world from the vantage point of the predator and not prey. The new robes were a little loose, but nowhere as bad as the rags that the matron had deemed to **_**gift**_** her with, and that pleased her some, this was just one more thing to separate her new self from the self that she had left behind those many months ago, and she felt better for it.**

**Then, feeling her long hair, which was nearly platinum blonde from the harsh rays of the sun, brush against her the small of her back, she decided to braid it, not that she had ever done so before, but she had watched the girls in the orphanage do it for each other, so she figured that she might as well try it, and so she began to brush it, starting from the bottom and working her way up, just as she had observed the girls in the dormitory do. After she had been brushing for not even thirty seconds she discovered that it was actually quite painful, but she had suffered far worse in both of her lives, and so she gritted her teeth and bared the uncomfortable pulling sensation. It was a triumphant moment when she reached the top of her head, she ran her fingers through her hair testing it out, and she found that she liked the way her hands slid effortlessly through her hair, and decided that she would do this daily, like some of the older girls at the orphanage had done. **

**And now for the hard part, the braid itself, she sighed as she grabbed two handfuls of hair and began to twist them, it was immediately apparent to her that this was not the way that you were supposed to do this, as her hair just twisted around and did not take the form that it should have, and so she tried it again, this time taking one third of her hair into each hand, and twisting it around the middle portion, and this time she was met with success, and so she stood up, only to have the entire braid fall apart, she let out a groan of frustration, and she resiliently repeated the process, only this time knotting the three inch tail, then pulling on it to test the strength of the knot, surprisingly, at least to her, it held firmly. She smiled to herself, perhaps there was something to this whole beauty thing, not that she thought herself beautiful, but the idea to her, was intriguing, something that she could pursue in her idle time, but not something to be overly concerned with. Like the sweet berries in the forest, they were good yes, but she had learned early on that she could not survive on the sweet stuff alone, and so every once in a while would she pause for the ripened fruit, but she always savored it, why waste it she thought.**

**-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~**

**When she descended the staircase she saw the old man, Professor Dumbledore she remembered was his name. His eyes sparkled all the brighter when he saw her in the robes with her hair braided, but why, that was the question, why did his eyes sparkle like that, what was it about her that made him do that, for it was unlike the evil glint that some off the boys, or the matron had, this was kind, inviting, and therefore, suspicious. When she reached the bottom Dumbledore smiled. **

"**Look here, what a beautiful young lady you are, and I see that the robes suite you well, a bit loose though. Hmm… we'll have to speak to Madam Malkin about that, however, first things first, I do believe that you agreed to tell me your story," he said with that same warm welcoming smile that he had been wearing that entire day, and the same cheery twinkle in his eyes that never seemed to be diminished.**

_**I agreed to nothing old man,**_** she thought as she looked at him. "Very well, but you have to answer some questions that I have for you," it was a bold move she knew, but he could hardly strike her in public, so as long as they were never alone, she'd be safe.**

"**Hmm… I do believe that's not to bad of a trade now is it?" Dumbledore paused for a moment, as if to think it over, but they both knew that he was determined to hear her story, and so after an appropriate amount of time had passed he opened his mouth to speak again, "Very well my dear, I agree to your terms." **

**And so she told him, not everything, but enough so that he knew the general outline, she didn't trust this strange man nearly enough to tell him her entire story, but he now knew the basics of what had lead to her exodus first from the orphanage, and then again from the forest. "Now its my turn right sir?" she asked in that sickly sweet tone that she had heard the older girls at the orphanage use when they wanted something horribly, but didn't want to admit it.**

**Dumbledores' eyes twinkled knowingly, and then he nodded, "Yes child, what would you like to know?" he said sagely.**

"**Magic is real." Christabelle didn't ask so much as state, but she still needed the confirmation that what she had seen earlier was in fact magic, and not just some wire trick.**

"**That it is my dear," he said to her nodding his head slowly, "And from what you told me earlier, you must indeed be strong in order to have such control over it at your age," he said, and this part, she had not been expecting, but then she thought, **_**others my age have not had to learn how to use it to survive the way I have. He said that I must be powerful, I'll have to look into that later on.**_

"_**Why did you react to my name like that?" she asked innocently, and grinned inwardly when she saw his eyes get big and round, she knew she had him.**_

_**A/N: I realize that I'm supposed to be in San Diego right now getting yelled at for breathing, but unfortunately for me at least, I was denied the asthma waiver that I needed to get in, and so, here I stand 18, unemployed, its too late to apply for the fall semester at the local community collage, no money to speak of (I spent it all on the laptop that I'm typing on right now), and absolutely no idea what to do with my life. So, I decided to move out to my moms house out in rural middle of nowhere Ohio, and work at the Ohio Ren Faire, then get a job somewhere, and work out there for a year, and come back home to attend school. So right now writing is an escape for me, and I'd really like to know what you guys think of this fic, and besides, the community is probably the only contact I'll have with the outside world for a year, so please R&R. **_

_**And yes I am evil for the cliffy hahahahaha.**_


	8. An Exiting Day

This chappie did not want to be written, trust me, I would have updated long ago if this chapter had been as easy to write as the other ones, and I sincerely apologize for the delay, it just didn't want to be written in a way that I was happy with it, I must have re written it at least a dozen times and it still failed in my mind, and so I will go with whatever this one ends up looking like, I may go back and change it later on, I don't know, I just want to push out an update after several months of no updates, I do want this fic to live, even if it is just barely.

ON WITH THE FICCAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Lemon drop?" he said in a questioning tone, taking a yellow ball out of his pocket and popping it into his mouth.

"What?" she asked disbelievingly, of all the ridiculous answers that she was expecting, it was hardly something as random as that, _maybe he is as crazy as he looks,_ Tristan said rubbing his head against her leg. _He's avoiding the question, but why?_

"I find that if you stop to savor the small things in life, then, when something unpleasant happens, its lessened some, makes life easier to handle you see," the old man said in a distant, lecturing tone, as if trying to say _you foolish girl, behave._

"You said that we had a lot to do today sir?" she said experimentally, maybe if she distracted him enough, he would tell her, and if not, well there were other ways of finding things out, she was certain that there would be a book store somewhere around here, as she had never seen any books involving this kind of magic that weren't story books.

He paused for a moment, looked at her, then smiled that nice, warm smile, that seemed a little bit forced. "Ah, yes, much to do, first you need some robes of your own, then we should get an elf to take care of you, and then finally, we must get you some reading material, I daresay that you are extremely curious as to the world around you, and want to know as much as possible, am I correct?" he said not even giving her enough time to respond before standing up and walking towards the back door. Christabelle stood up and followed him, sighing as she did so_, _she knew that she couldn't win against this man, so why would she wage a battle that she knew she wouldn't be able to win in the end?

She followed him into a small alley and her pulse began to sky rocket, her pupils dilated, she dropped into a feral crouch and instinctively reached for the bow that she normally kept on her back, when she found that it was not there, she let out a low growl and started to back away, calling on that strange power that she knew the old man had a mastery of, but that didn't matter, she'd die fighting before she let _that_ happen to her again, and started to form a noose with it in her mind, like she would when starving and hunting rabbits, only this was a lot bigger, and stronger. This all happened in the span of three seconds, during which, Dumbledore had walked briskly across the small alley way, and drew out his stick thing, and tapped a few bricks with it.

"Welcome my dear to Diagon Alley," he said spreading his arm out in a sweeping motion towards the bustling street behind him, and his eyes gleamed, this was not the slight twinkle that they had held earlier. No, this was a genuine smile that lit up his eyes, and made him look more like the grandfather figure that he so desperately wanted to be.

However, the smile faded swiftly from his face when he noticed the predatory stance of the girl, so fragile, so frail, yet, somehow strong, fierce, powerful, feral, primal. The overly cheery face returned when he saw her stance relax some, the image of the noose still held in her mind, and asked in an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry my dear did I scare you?" as he stepped toward her. The response was instant, he felt a tightening sensation around his neck, and a look of sheer concentration covered Christabelles face as she tried to manipulate the slippery energy that was inside of her to take the form that she was envisioning in her mind.

The raven immediately took to the air and was coming in for a dive at the same time that the small fox started to raise his hackles, and teeth bared charging towards the aged wizard, the tightening sensation intensified as a bead of sweat broke out on Christabelles face that effectively cut off his air supply. His stick appeared in his hand with a flick of his wrist and in the same fluid motion Shadow and Tristan were both frozen where they were, and as he brought the stick down in an elegant arc, he leveled it at her and said calmly, "Where did you learn to do that?" all the warmth in his voice was gone, replaced with a colder, much harsher, more aged tone then he had used with her all day, and yet, the curiosity was still blatant, glaring even.

"You'll have to kill me if you want to do anything to me!" she screamed, the image of the noose fading quickly from her mind and being replaced with a calmer feeling, she gritted her teeth and shook her head, using her fear and panic to fuel the manic desperation that she felt, the image of the noose became the one focus that she had, the only thing in the world was the rope, the knot, and the neck that it belonged around. A muted word flittered through her mind as the world was loosing focus, "Stupefy," and then the entire world went black.

When she came to a while later in a stark white room, with white furniture, from where she was laying down she could see Dumbledore sitting in one of the white chairs that were positioned throughout the room. Perched at the foot of her bed was Shadow, standing resolute, and obviously enjoying scaring the poor nurses by croaking and biting at them as they walked by the bed while going about their various duties, Tristan on the other hand was sleeping on her chest at the present moment, purring contentedly, and looking like the cutest darn thing any of the staff had ever seen.

She tried to sit up, but found her path blocked by some unseen force, she started to struggle. Hearing this, Dumbledore got up and walked over to her, and with the customary twinkle in his eyes, he said, "Well my dear, you're all healed up and ready to walk out of here, there is just a few simple matters to attend to such as your guardianship and your appointment with the mind healer being the first of them," he paused to take a deep breath before continuing, "How do you feel my dear?"

She said nothing but glared at him with all the hatred that she could muster at the moment. Dumbledore moved to touch her on the arm Shadow flew at his face, and Tristan stood up teeth bared and growling. Christabelle fought to move the invisible force that held her body in place with all her might, and realizing that she could not move at all, no matter how hard she struggled, she resigned herself to her fate, swearing to herself that if she survived this, that he would one day feel whatever he had done to her one thousand times over.

He instantly withdrew his hand and as he backed away, Shadow returned to his post at the foot of the bed. When he was sure that he was no longer in danger he said, "Its alright, I promise not to hurt you." When he got no response he said, "I can see a lost battle before its began, so I will leave you to yourself for now. In a while I will send my associate Professor McGonagall to look after you, I do believe that you will find her company agreeable, perhaps you will even find her… enjoy your time with her. However, she is not one to tolerate any form of misbehavior, she will also be instructing you in proper etiquette, and the basics of magical control, you will not be learning any magic, but you will learn to control it better, so you don't have any more outbursts like you had in the alley."

When Christabelle gave no sign off acknowledgement him, he backed out of the room and closed the door behind him leaving the small child behind him and pondering the similarities, and none too subtle differences between this child and one that he had pulled from similar circumstances. As he thoughthis wizened face wrinkling in concentration as he walked down the hallway of the Minor Accidents and Injuries ward of St. Mungo's hospital, _what am I to do about this child, who's care should I put her in._ His first thought had been Molly and Arthur Weasley, but that thought had been instantly dashed as he remembered the numerous sons that the kind couple had given birth too.

But, if her first reaction to him was any indication of her future actions, then he was not going to put her in such a home, no what he needed was a pureblood family that only had a girl child in the family, and at the moment he could only think of one pure-blooded family that was comprised of only females the Lovegoods. He prepared himself for a trip to the interesting, family home that lone tower which was filled with ancient relics and even older runes of power that held the place together, but according to several leading runoligists the magic that was in them was very feint, and quickly leaving, as in within a few years the place would fall to pieces as it should have done centuries ago.

Okay, I know that it was Luna's mom who died in JKR land, but in my fic, it s going to be her mom who survived, so, deal with it, or not, either way, its my story, so there, besides, I like Luna she's awesome, so deal, or leave.

Does anyone here know what someone who studies runes is called, if so, pm me and I will mention you in the next chapter,, if I remember that is, we can hope though.

Also I'm sorry about the POV change, that's just how it happened, and I have to say, for someone who hates to old manipulative bastard, I can write from his POV quite comfortably. Also I'm saying that foxes can purr, deal with it, at least if they cant', if they can, I win so epically with that guess that you should review and say so 0_o… you haven't reviewed yet. I also changed part of the prologue, I expanded the prophecy at the beginning by like half a line, so deal, go back and reread it if you like, or not, its up to you… *pssst* you should reread it…


	9. Time in the Hospital

_**~~~Professor Minerva McGonagall~~~**_

"_**Albus are the restraints really necessary? How dangerous can she really be at her age?" a tall sour faced older woman with an overpowering Scottish accent asked as she watched the girl child who was engaged in a conversation with two animals of the land, a red fox and a raven; both known for their cunning and pranks as well, one of which was the symbol of the smartest house at Hogwarts, the other was known throughout the world as a notorious trickster, in both the magical and muggle worlds. Minerva thought about what Albus had told her about the child, Christabelle he had said her name was, able to control her magic well enough to produce a noose wandlessly. A feat that most trained Aurors would have a problem with, and this child, who looked so small and frail at first glance, until you looked harder, then you saw a predators strength in her, the wiry muscles could easily be mistaken for no muscles at all, and the look of complete confidence when she talked to the animals, Minerva had seen that same look in her own eyes when first mastered her animagus transformation, she saw that same look of determination on this child's face, and in all honesty it intimidated her a little bit. **_

"_**Minnie, I have no doubt that you will be in any danger as long as she does not feel threatened by you, rather like those cats that you are so fond of yes?" Albus said with a healthy grin on his face, though Minerva thought that she detected a small hint of apprehension at releasing the child, but he would not be in the room at all so he was safe, Minerva on the other hand had not a clue what she was getting into. But if she could deal with an irate Severus Snape, then she could deal with a nine year old child who had tantrums, very magically powerful tantrums, but tantrums none-the-less.**_

_**So she raised her head gathered her Gryffindor courage, and opened the door, waving her wand at Christabelles' bed and countered the spell that Dumbledore had placed on her, then said, not allowing the child the opportunity to speak.**_

"_**Hello child, I am Professor McGonagall and I will be teaching you how to control your magic, until we find you a guardian, at which point I will no longer be instructing you. Now, sit up," she paused to let the child do as she was told, and surprisingly enough the child complied without a single word of protest. But then she remembered what Albus had told her about the child's past and it was no wonder to her that the child was so agreeable, and decided to do away with all that rubbish from the start. "I will have you know, that I will never beat you, that does not mean that you can get away with whatever you want to do though. If you ever want to get out of here, then I suggest that you do as I say, if you have any questions, ask them, I will not have you disrespecting me or any of the staff here, do you understand me girl?"**_

"_**Yes professor," was all the response that Minerva got out of the poor child, but that didn't stop her from doing what needed to be done.**_

"_**Very well, lets get started then. How did you first learn to use your magic?" Professor McGonagall asked while watching the raven preen itself. **_

_**And so for the next several hours they went over how Christabelle first used accidental magic to trap a fleeing rabbit, and how she remembered the feeling inside of her the next several times that it happened. Then how she forced that feeling again and again on days that she had enough food to not necessitate hunting, and she would concentrate on that feeling then cut a piece of wood with it until she could do it on command, then she explained her reasoning that just like any other muscle in the body if she used it regularly, it would grow stronger, and she would learn more different uses for it. She hadn't reached that stage yet, as it still took severe concentration to cut through a decimeter of oak wood, and a decimeter and a half of flesh in a slashing movement, or to cut one centimeter deep around a six decimeter tree trunk, or around sixty-five decimeters of flesh, without passing out, but coming very close to it. **_

_**~~~Four hours later~~**_

_**~Christabelle Ambrosius Pendragon~**_

_**Laying back in her hospital bed after the professor had left she started to shake her head, holding back tears, "Tristan, why is it that she was so afraid of me? What about me scares her so much? What have I ever done to make her afraid? I mean Dumbledore most likely told her about what happened in the alley, but that was an accident, I thought he was going to try to… I thought he was going to hurt me, so I defended myself. How else was I supposed to act?" the damn broke at some point in her tirade. "Did I make a mistake in coming back into the world? What about this new world that I know nothing about? What if I make a fool out of myself? What if I break some rule that I know nothing about? What am I going to do, guys?" **_

_**She was cut off at this point by a sharp peck to the head, when she looked up at Shadow, he simply looked at her and said, "Silly girl, you will learn. Two legs fear power, have power, people fear. Do not worry, prove yourself. Earn respect. Prove wrong. Learn control, not give into darkness, master light, tame the dark, people like. You find flock, give time."**_

_**Tristan who was curled up against her stomach, lifted his head, you will find what you are looking for, like the bird said, you just have to give it time. However, I suggest we get some sleep, I don't think that's the last time we will see the professor, so you should be rested.**_

**Christabelle decided to listen to the animals and chose to start learning all that she could about this new world that she had just found not even two days ago. She fell asleep with dreams of people running in fear of her, and her crying because of their fear and misunderstanding. When she awoke in the morning, she remembered nothing of her dreams. **

**When she looked around her room she was surprised to find a young brunette sitting in one of the two chairs that accommodated the room. Upon seeing that Christabelle was awake, the brunette quickly introduced herself as Healer Tam, and told her that she was a mind healer. "What that means Christabelle, what a pretty name by the way, is that while other healers deal with messy cuts, and general ickyness, I deal with what goes on inside your head, so why don't we talk a little bit about you?"**

**And so she spent the day talking about the orphanage and everything that went on there, the beatings, the abuse, the seclusion, her ability to seemingly blend in with the darkness around her, the fondness for small dark places because they were safe from the other kids who refused to go there, or who couldn't fit. Her decision to leave, and what lead to it, the first two months of her stay in the woods, and how difficult they were and why. The first time that she met Tristan and why she decided to save him, her declaration of war against all hunters who entered **_**her**_** woods. The time that she saved Shadow from a pack of feral cats and nursed her back to health. Learning about her power and learning how to use it to survive. The two blondes that she watched that made her leave the woods forever, her journey into London, the encounter with Professor Dumbledore in the alley. Even her talk with Professor McGonagall was scrutinized intently by Hr. Tam, who like Professor McGonagall looked more and more concerned as the conversation continued and again, self pity and hatred started to cloud her mind, and bring tears to her eyes, and so mercifully Hr. Tam concluded their session for the day claiming to have things to do at home, but Christabelle knew, she just knew that it was to give her some time to recover for the next day of the exact same thing. **

**That night she dreamt of her life, all the pain and hurt that it involved, and how different she was from the other kids at the orphanage, they were carefree and happy most of the time, she on the other hand was subject to daily abuse and more-than-occasional rape, and it had hardened her, but she was still weak enough to cry, she still had a heart, she knew with every thing in her being that she was a better person then the Matron, and a braver kid then most would begin to suspect just by looking at her. **

**~*~*~*~ Four Days Later**

**In the morning she expected to see Healer Tam again, but was shocked to see the tall blonde woman with vivid green eyes whom she had observed the day that she left her home. "Hello," the beautiful blonde woman said in an ethereal voice that warmed Christabelles' heart, "my name is Elaine Nimue Lovegood, I have been told much about you in the last few days, but I doubt that you know much about me. So I will tell you about myself, if you will tell me, after all, the best storytellers are the one who has lived them, not those who have had the story told to them, do you not agree?"**

**Christabelle did not know why but she trusted this woman, she felt a goodness in the woman, perhaps that was why, looking back years later, she didn't even know why she trusted this woman, this stranger who had forced her from her home, who had made her seek others of her species. Maybe that's why, maybe it was because she had already attached some hefty emotion to the woman, she never thought about it for too long though. **

**Christabelle sat silent for well over ten minutes thinking about what to say, how to say it, when she looked at the woman who had convinced her to leave her den, and then she told the woman about everything, about how the other children never seemed to like her, about how the matron would beat her, and in the months before she left the orphanage about how she was thrown into the boys dorm and how they were told to "have fun with the little whore, she'll need the practice." She told Elaine about how the door swung open before she could run back up the stairs the night she left that place. She told her about how she could sense a persons inner balance, and described this feeling as goodness or bad things, she explained. Throughout her tale, she never took her eyes off of Tristan and was rhythmically petting him all throughout, she told this strange woman who had this aura of peace and serenity and lightheartedness like nothing that he had ever felt before every detail that she could remember of her first and second lives, little did she know that the third one was about the begin so soon.**

**Then came the biggest shocker of all for the independent child. "Christabelle, the reason that I'm here is to take you home with me. That is if you want too," Elaine said kindly. Her eyes shining for the fear of rejection, Christabelle nodded meekly.**

**An awkward silence filled the small white room until the tall raven croaked out, "What call you?" her sharp voice cutting through the silence like a lightning bolt in a forest. **

**Elaine thought for a moment, then said, "You may call me Mum if you like, or if you don't want to call me Mum, you could just call me by my name if you prefer, I have no preference." Elaine said in a semi-embarrassed tone, leaning back in her white chair.**

**Christabelle remained silent for another minute or so, then started to say meekly, "When are we leaving Mum? I don't like being here, its too clean, to small, I feel trapped, I want to go NOW!" she built up steam as she kept on talking, and just let loose. She immediately cringed and started to say very rapidly "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, didn't mean it, please don't beat me, please don't beat me," she muttered as she rocked back and forth on her bed.**

**Elaine stood up and walked over to the small child and slowly wrapped her arms around the child, giving her plenty of time to pull away if she wanted, but to Elaine's immense surprise the child melted into her arms, and sobbed for a good forty minutes before falling to sleep Elaine laid down in her new child's' bed. After all there was plenty of time to explain every thing later, and on that note, she settled in to the warm hospital bed, and fell asleep.**

* * *

**A/N sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter up, I have been dealing with a lot of stuff recently, including but not limited too by any means, starting collage, writers block, having a real life, trying to figure out how I want to get where I want to go with this story, as well as some family stuff, moving out of state, so hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. Also, as I am lazy, and want to get on with the action, and the meat of the story, I will be skipping ahead to the first year, the next chapter will be covering the time in between but only as a general overview. **


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